Grubenhagen Castle () is a ruined

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

castle in North

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

dating to the 13th century. It is not far from the town of

Einbeck Einbeck (; Eastphalian: ''Aimbeck'') is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, on the German Timber-Frame Road. History Prehistory The area of the current city of Einbeck is inhabited since prehistoric times. Vario ...

in southern

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Location

The ruins are located in the district of

Northeim Northeim (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, seat of the Northeim (district), district of Northeim, with a population of 30,118 as of 31 December 2023. It lies on the German Half-Timbered House Road. History Northeim is first mentioned in ...

on a hill summit on the Ahlsburg ridge, south-southwest of

and east of the

Solling The Solling () is a range of hills up to high in the Weser Uplands in the German state of Lower Saxony, whose extreme southerly foothills extend into Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. Inside Lower Saxony it is the second largest range of hill ...

hills, between the basin of the

River Ilme The Ilme is a left-bank, western tributary of the River Leine in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is long. The river begins at the pond in the centre of the Solling hills at an elevation of and flows initially northwards to Dassel, then in an easte ...

and the valley of the

Leine The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long. The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver ...

. The castle may be reached via a narrow forest path from Rotenkirchen, a village south of Einbeck, which is on the northern edge of the ridge and below the castle ruins and not far to the northeast.

Architecture

The hill castle of Grubenhagen was built in the 13th century. Only the round,

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Italian: ''torrione''; Castilian: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries an ...

remains today. Attached to its southeastern side is a building from the 19th/20th century. The raised plateau of the

inner ward A bailey or ward in a fortification is a leveled courtyard, typically enclosed by a curtain wall. In particular, a medieval type of European castle is known as a motte-and-bailey. Castles and fortifications may have more than one bailey, and t ...

, with its relatively small area, is oval and slightly kidney-shaped. It is about 63 metres long and 32 metres wide. Below it is the

outer ward An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bu ...

. The site is surrounded on three sides by a double ditch. On the fourth side the terrain drops away steeply, rendering a ditch unnecessary. To the northeast and southwest the remains of the

ringwall A circular rampart () is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering. The period during which ...

and

revetment A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water an ...

s have been preserved. A Merian engraving around 1650 shows the castle still with a round keep and a roofless building in front of it with a gable. On the outer

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...

s of the main ditch was a defensive wall with a

chemin de ronde A ''chemin de ronde'' ( French, "round path"' or "patrol path"; ), also called an allure, alure or, more prosaically, a wall-walk, is a raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement. In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficu ...

behind the battlements to the northwest. To the north and northwest the engraving depicts the remains of another defensive walkway with

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of Age of Gunpowder, gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a sp ...

History

The lords of Grubenhagen were the counts of Dassel and the

Welfs The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...

. It is not clear exactly when the castle was built, but it probably appeared during the reign of

Henry the Lion Henry the Lion (; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195), also known as Henry III, Duke of Saxony (ruled 1142-1180) and Henry XII, Duke of Bavaria (ruled 1156-1180), was a member of the Welf dynasty. Henry was one of the most powerful German princes of ...

(1129 to 1195). The castle was first mentioned in the records in 1263. At that time the

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

s (''Burgmannen'') in possession of the castle were the

ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

family of Grubo or Grube, later Grubenhagen. At the end of the 13th century the castle went back to the dukes of

Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg The Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg (), commonly known as the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg or Brunswick-Lüneburg, was an imperial principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the territory of present day Lower Saxony. In 1235, Otto I, Duke of ...

. The castle gave its name to the Welf

Principality of Grubenhagen The Principality of Grubenhagen was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruled by the Grubenhagen line of the House of Welf from 1291. It is also known as Brunswick-Grubenhagen. The principality fell to the Brunswick Principality of L ...

founded in 1291 by Henry the Admirable. It was however never really the

residence A residence is a place (normally a building) used as a home or dwelling, where people reside. Residence or The Residence may also refer to: * Domicile (law) In law and conflict of laws, domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal l ...

of the principality. It first appears as a "house" of the dukes in the early 15th century. The dukes mainly resided at the castle of Heldenburg not far away and, later, in

Herzberg am Harz Herzberg am Harz (Esperanto: ) is a town in the Göttingen (district), Göttingen district of Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography Herzberg is situated on the southwestern rim of the Harz mountain range and the Harz National Park. Natural monument ...

. The name of the Principality of Grubenhagen first appeared around 1617, its previous name is unknown. In 1448

Henry III of Brunswick-Grubenhagen Henry III, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (* 1416 Grubenhagen, † 20 December 1464Profile
Rootswe ...

had to fortify himself in the castle, after he exposed himself to attack by Landgrave

Louis I of Hesse Louis I (; 6 February 140217 January 1458), nicknamed the Peaceful (), was Landgrave of Hesse from 1413 to 1458. Following Louis' death, his sons, Henry III and Louis II, divided Hesse into Upper and Lower sections. Life Louis was born at Sp ...

following a raid in the area of

Hofgeismar Hofgeismar () is a town in the district of Kassel, in northern Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km north of Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Ge ...

. A siege army deployed in front of the castle with a heavy cannon. The castle could not be taken however. Instead the disappointed attackers devastated the villages of the neighbourhood: Altendorf, Reinsen, Bensen and Rotenkirchen. The last-mentioned was rebuilt in 1520 as a supply depot, residence and administrative seat for the dukes. In the period that followed Grubenhagen Castle was rarely occupied. The Grubenhagen Line of the House of Welf died out in 1596 and it fell to other Welf lines, who did not use the castle for 200 years. In 1815–16 Duke Adolf Frederick of Cambridge took ownership of the castle from the desmesne of Rotenkirchen. As viceroy of the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...

the duke had the timber-framed manor house in Rotenkirchen converted by master builder

Laves Laves may refer to: * Fritz Laves (1906-1978), a German mineralogist and crystallographer, best known for his description of the intermetallic Laves phases. * Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves (December 15, 1788 – April 30, 1864) a leading neoclassi ...

into an elegant hunting lodge. He also had the stables built onto the existing castle tower. From 1861 to 1866 Rotenkirchen was the summer residence of the kings of Hanover.

The castle today

Grubenhagen Castle was neglected in the years after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and fell into further ruin. Even the door to the tower was walled up so that it could no longer be ascended. Since 1977 a citizens' group, the Grubenhagen Castle Society (''Burgverein Grubenhagen''), has looked after the castle site. The keep has been renovated with donations and grants and the old horse stable can be used for events. The site is once again a popular destination for day trippers. The tower can be climbed, but the key must be collected beforehand in the village from the castle tower keeper (''Burgturmwart'').

Sources

* Ernst Andreas Friedrich: ''Wenn Steine reden könnten.'' Band III, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1995,

External links

Website for the castle

{{in lang, de Castles in Lower Saxony Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg Einbeck Ruined castles in Germany